


How The Mad King Became

by CipherCifear



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Achievement Hunter Kings, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Minecraft, Gen, Kings & Queens, Kings AU, Mad King Ryan, Minecraft, On Hiatus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:57:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2156514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CipherCifear/pseuds/CipherCifear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Ryan became The Mad King and what followed after. Violence and Character death in later chapters. UPDATE NOTE: Parts of the story are being edited and changed slightly. SECOND UPDATE NOTE: story on pause till new work us done"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. World Building

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added some description to each of the kings. I thought Geoff, Ray, Jack, and Michael got too short of descriptions.

AchievementCity was an odd kingdom. No one knew why the founders had decided to call their kingdom a city but tradition kept the name from being changed into something more proper or kingdomly sounding. Another odd quirk of this kingdom was that there was never one single ruler of AchievementCity, always multiples. Currently the land held six kings, each with their own title and land, however no king outranked each other. It had been tradition since the founding of the ‘city’ that the number of rulers (kings or queens) never drop below two and never be more then six, least they upset the Minecraft God. Or so it was rumored. The current six were rather new to their crowns, haven only recently been chosen by the former queens of AchievementCity upon their deathbeds. As of course was tradition.  


 

The first chosen had been Geoff, a highborn lord of the kingdom whose good nature and friendliness won him many loyal men to his name. He was a loving husband and father, doting on his family at every turn. All agreed he would be a perfect king, no one was better for the job then he was they all said. His title was The First King, due to the fact he had been picked first by the former queens. Not as creative a title as the others, but he liked it. It gave him a bit more authority over the other kings as they all thought of him in a fatherly sort of way. As if he always knew what he was doing- which truth be told- was rarely. 

 

The second king was Ray, better known as the Rose King. His love of the crimson flower had won him his title and the gentle musician did not mind the inscription, he thought it suited him to a ‘T’, even going as far to make his crown out of roses of many hues. Before being honored with the title of King, Ray had gone around the world, in search of all the beautiful flowers he could find. This of course led to some problems as his love for roses was a bit strong. It was almost impossible to find a rose in the wild now because Ray had taken them all for himself. Now if you wanted a rose or dye for your clothing, you had to go to a Narvaez own or sponsored shop. He had literally cornered the market on roses much to everyone's annoyance.

 

The third king had been a former warrior, famous throughout all of AchievementCity for his skill in battle. Sir Michael, a common born man with a temper, became known as King Mogar; his battle-name, a name that he cried out upon everyone of his victories. He was also famous for his temper. The people of AchievementCity always found themselves worrying for their kings health if they didn’t hear at least one profanity a day screamed from the castle walls. Mogar, it was rumored, had never lost a fight. Ever since he had become old enough to fight in the City’s tournaments, he had won every year- earning the rumor a bit of truth to it. Some  wondered why they still bothered to host those games anymore seeing as Michael always one.

 

Fourth was Jack, a local noble whose family had created their wealth from controlling the kingdoms housing industry, whom had been given the title The Builder King. He was a good man, pure of heart with the kindest eyes any man or woman ever had the pleasure of looking into.  Jack was a good listener, one the public trusted to hear their pleas so of course everyone was pleased when he had been selected to be a king, all agreeing that he too would be as fair and just as the previous rulers.

 

Gavin was the fifth king and no one understood why he had been picked, before becoming a king he had been the court jester. He had no royal blood, no warrior training, and often times ended up hurting himself. Though a close companion of Sir Michael, Gavin had no qualifications to be a king and while many protested the queen's decision, the other kings had defended their choice, stating Gavin showed a more… common side. That the lower class would like this king. The queen naming him had passed before a title could be bestowed upon him so the newly made king named himself. The Creeper King, after the creeper attire he wore for his jests. Though the title changed often depending on his mood, since nothing official ever was written down; his other self-made titles included but did not limit to The Jester King and The Archer King (a skill he was oddly good at for his lack of training). 

 

The final king to be chosen was a highborn lord who had a gift with animals. Well, a curse some might call it as they never seemed to leave him alone but Ryan choose to see the bright side of this gift, using it to tame many wild animals in the land to his aid and the kingdoms need. Because of him the land was never short of food, even beast flocked to him. Though oddly enough his power did not effect monsters, creepers and endermen and anything from The Nether. For this gift the one of the dying queens named him The Animal King.

 

For five years after the former queens passing, all was well. The new kings, odd and unique as they all were, made for very good and fair rulers- even Gavin to all the highborns surprise. With King Mogar leading their armors AchievementCity expanding their land far and wide, taking over smaller neighboring kingdoms such as  AchievementLandia, AchievementBurge, AchievementLand (A smaller portion of Landia that considered itself independent of their ruler until the take over), and were currently in position to take the kingdom across the sea, AchievementVille. Or so Sir Michael claimed. The take over of the other nations were quick and swift, taking less than a year for each campaign. Ville on the other hand was stubbornly holding out, much to everyone confusion back in AchievementCity. King Mogar swore up and down that he was doing his best but at every turn something for him seemed to go wrong. Poisoned drinking water which cost half his troops. A sinkhole which destroyed the entire war mount section. Fire in the food storage- so many mishaps continued to happen that all the kings began to suspect Ville was getting help from somewhere. No one was that lucky.

 

This is where the story starts. In a war room, in AchievementCity. 


	2. War Is Serious Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kings try to deiced what to do about AchievementVille

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewrote some scenes in here because I thought the exchange went too fast for my liking. Not too big a change just some minor background details and explanations were added.

The table shook when Michael slammed his hand down on the table, causing Gavin to let out a startled yelp and fall from his chair. He gave his friend an upset look which was ignored as the battle-born king continued his rant.

“Tooth and nail we fight and STILL their city stands. IT’S A FUCKIGN MOCKERY IS WHAT IT IS.”

Geoff pinched the space between his eyebrows, trying to fight an oncoming headache. He loathed these war councils, King Mogar screaming always gave him a terrible headache and that was all these meetings were. Screaming and bitching. Very little was ever accomplished at these meets aside from the agreed upon ‘yes we must destroy them, we all can agree on that’.

“And your screaming is going to win us their city? Sit down Michael, please, and can we for once try to form a plan?” Begrudgingly Mogar did so, “Wonderful now. Jack, does your builder network have anything new for us?”

Jack put down the book of tallies he had been checking, giving The First King a tired look. The so called ‘builder’ network was the King's haphazard and jumbled attempt to create a spy organization when they saw their war was going downhill. It was made up of carpenters, roofers, plumbers, anyone who was associated with the Builders Guild was in the network. They were, simply put, the farthest thing one could get from spies.   “Nothing new. Men are captured in the night while they are in the mild of constructing something. They strike in the dead of night at random, we haven’t been able to tell when or where they will attack next. Sometimes they go for weeks without sabotage then all of a sudden- bam. Half a unite poisoned in the middle of the night and over 10 builders missing.” Jack scowled. “No one sees or hears anything….  I wish there was better news but that is all I have.”With that he went back to his book because there was little else to say on the matter.

“We’ll be in the poor house before we conquer this damned kingdom. I’d say leave them be but at this point we’ve spent so much time, money, and men that it would be a utter waste NOT to conquer them.” Ray stated this mostly to himself but the others had heard the opinion. The Rose King was correct however, that this fight was costing AchievementCity far more than they had expected. By this point the kings had sunk so much effort into trying to topple Ville that if they turned tail and ran they would be losing more in the long run that if they just stuck it out. At least then they would have something to show for their efforts.

Michael sent his king compain a glare and flipped him off before returning his attention back to Geoff. He was very bitter about the loss of his men, his squire Sir Kerry, had perished in the last attempt to storm the kingdom's walls. It was at this point Gavin pipped up, pushing his rather large crown out of his eyes as he spoke.

“What if we had a spy? A proper one I mean, not some useless builder-” Jack looked up from his book, rather insulted at this comment, “I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Shut up Gavin.”

“No wait-” Geoff hushed King Mogar, interested in what The Creeper King had to say on the matter. Never before had the youth spoken seriously at one of these councils, he mostly joked around and whined after Michael to train him. “I want to hear what he has to say.”

Jack tried not to roll his eyes as The Foolish King tried to explain his plan, still hurt by the insult from before.

“What if we had a spy,” he started,

“Yes you said that before,” Ryan jokingly mocked, earning him a hard elbow to the chest from Geoff.

“Let me finish! Where was I-”

“Gavin for fucks sake get to the point!” Michael yelled, slamming his fist again on the table. He knew the Creeper King would putter on for an eternity trying to stammer his words out and Mogar was in no mood to play ‘what is Gavin trying to say’.

“Creator above, I am getting to it! What I am trying to say is, what if we were the spy.”

The room went silent before Ray and Michael tried not to fall out of their chairs, laughing so hard that they had to grip the armrests to steady themselves.

“That is the stupidest thing you have ever said.” Ray snorted, wiping a tear from his eye

“What! No it isn’t! It’s a good idea!” The Creeper King huffed indignantly

“How is that a good idea!? We aren’t spies you dumbass, we are kings! And pretty shitty ones to boot.” They all nodded in agreement to that last statement. The former queens were probably rolling over in their grave, regretting their decision to put these morons in charge.

King Geoff was quite during the whole exchange, thinking over Gavin's words. There was some intelligence to them. If one of them were to be the spy it would cut out the middle man, they wouldn’t have to worry about trust issues, if the field reports were accurate, all of them were capable of handling themselves in combat. Well not Gavin, unless you gave him a bow and arrow, but the others were able to fight fine enough. It also wasn’t like if one of them was gone the kingdom would collapse. King Mogar was barely in the City these days due to the war and things still ran fine without his presence. What was one more king gone?

“I think…. I think the idea has marrot.” Geoff announce, causing the other kings fell silent and look at him with shock. “We certainly would be far more capable of carrying out the task then a man who knows how to build a house- no Jack I am not insulting you wipe that fake hurt look off your beard.”

Jack snorted, putting his book down and now giving the room his full attention.

“But which one of us would go?” He asked, looking pointedly at Geoff. “Some of us are too well known in the public eye for such a mission. The enemy would take one look at you and go ‘oh King Geoff, what a surprise to see you, fancy a drink?’ Your cover would be blown in under five minutes if we let you go and play assassin.”

“Spy,” Gavin correct.

“Same difference.”

“What!? It is not!”

“Well then Michael is out too,” Geoff added doing his best to ignore the side argument that had just bloomed into existence. (Personally he sided with Gavin on the matter, a spy was different from an assassin but they didn’t have the time to talk about such frivolous matters.)  

Mogar to protest rather violently and loudly before The First King explained that he too was also too well known. Everyone knew who King Mogar was and what he looked like. He held and won the AchievementCity tournaments every year for creator's sake- of course the enemy would know who he was!

Gavin volunteered himself but everyone quickly shot that down. It was that they didn’t trust him. It was…. It was simply he had a habit of trying to help and then making things worse. Or less favorable. Or on fire. Most often things would end up on fire.  King Michael was convinced if they sent the former chester he would somehow manage to win the war for the OTHER side. That left Ryan and Ray. The Rose King was dismissed as well because Geoff refused to believe that, he too, wouldn’t fuck it up. Unlike Gavin who tried to help, The Rose King had a bad habit of going ‘fuck it, you only live once’ and jumping in head first without much thought. That only Jack and Ryan.

Geoff glanced between the two, unsure of who was worse suited for the task. Both kings were kind hearted and loving men, it was hard to image either of them being thrust onto the battlefield dressed as a common soldier and not looking very much out of place. They both were big men, strong from natural work,

but they did not have that look of warrior in their eyes. Most likely way they always lost to Mogar in the yearly competitions, fighting simply wasn’t in them.

“I will do it.”

All eyes turned to Ryan, shocked to hear the animal lover volunteer for the position. He wasn’t a bad choice between the two men… He was a good actor, having dabbled in the theater world before ascending to Kingship, well built with muscles from carrying heavy food bails to and from barns over the years, knew the basics of swordplay……. If their choices were between The Animal King and The Builder King, Geoff guessed Ryan was the better choice- if only because he wasn’t as soft hearted as Jack. The King was sometimes too sweet for his own good.  

The First King cleared his throat, resting a hand on upon the king's shoulder with concern.

“Are you sure?... If something were to happen to you the kingdom would be scarce for food.”

The Animal King laughed, brushing the hand off with a smile.

“I am not that important, if I leave the animals will not up and vanish. Just a few less. Besides, should I get into trouble, I will always have an animal friend nearby to call upon for help. Out of us all, I would be the best candidate. Not many have seen my face outside this kingdom, I will always have aid nearby, worse case scenerio, I have to ride off on horseback into the night.”

 

 

* * *

 

In the end, Ryan was chosen for the mission, much to Geoff's worry and Michaels annoyance (he still insisted it should be him and not the animal-trainer for such a mission but the vote had been 5-1 in favor of letting Ryan go). The plan they had devised was simple, King Mogar would bring him along on the next siege against Ville, dressed as one of the catapult builders. Within the week he would be captured, or so Michael estimated; the enemy took off with his men at such random intervals that he could never pin down when or where they would strike next but one thing was always true: they only took builders or those who work in the forging unites. So it was safe to assume that Ryan would be grabbed quickly. Once inside he would gather any intel that he could and escape via ender pearl. Another thing Mogar was not pleased about. Ender pearls were tricky to use and a danger to the user. If Ryan threw it too high he would crash to the ground- dead. Also, the user couldn’t see where they were going to land. There was a good chance Ryan could throw the pearl and end up in a tree, a lava pit, in water, or according to some horror stories of Ender pearling gone wrong, in a wall.

Michael had worried on the matter so much that they agreed to amend the  plan  so that The Animal King was only allowed to use the pearl if he knew non shallow water was on the other side of the wall. Mogar begrudgingly agreed as Jack assured him it would cushion The Animal Kings fall but Geoff was still sceptical about this whole plan. It was brash, hastily thought up, and something was bound to go wrong. Ryan had of course waved it all off as if these concerns were nothing to fret about, plans never go 100% according to plan he said. Still, Geoff could not shake the feeling this wasn’t as good a plan as he originally thought….

 

 

* * *

 

On the day he and Michael were to leave for the battle, the other kings went to go see them off.

“You’re mad, you know that right?” Geoff asked, pulling away from a hug that he hoped would not be their last. “Charging headfirst into such a dumbass plan like this (even though he had been one of the six to help create said dumbass plan) You can’t be anything but.”

Ryan smirked at this, giving his friend one last half hug. “I guess I am pretty mad, huh?”


	3. Animals Shouldn't Be Near The Battlefield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet a new character, more world building yeah, and Ryans gift for animals makes life a hassle at times

       Waiting was the hardest part. Ryan had expected the challenge to be escaping his imprisonment, not the anxiety that came from sitting around a battlefield waiting for the enemy to come and scoop him up. The 6th King was jumpy, always startled when someone approached to talk to him about something, always expecting it to be an enemy spy or warrior. A few had snuck into the camp in an attempt to poison their water supply and no matter how much Michael assured him that he was in full control of the situation and that he wouldn’t die for the plan could be enacted, Ryan still felt nervous. Constant firing of arrows from Ville’s walls did nothing to help calm him down, some had even strayed far enough into camp to wound a soldier or two and in one case a horse.

So he sat and waited. A week passed by and both the kings were starting to lose hope in their plan. Mogar suggested that maybe they no longer had any need of builders and that is why the raids had stopped. Ryan feared their plan and been spilled and that meant something worse than just a failed plan. It implied that AchievementCity had been infiltrated, a spy was among them. That was the Animal Kings biggest fear since only a few loyal men had been trusted with this plan and if they had been turned to the enemies side…. He shuddered to think how fast everything could collapse. 

It was during one of these times Ryan was grateful Knight Tuggey company. Knight Tuggey was a famous warrior whom had not only won the trust and loyalty of King Mogar but also his love. She was his tactician and his calmer side, most likely Michael won so many of these battles was his to-be wife’s battle plans. What he lacked in planning she made up for, they fit well Ryan thought and he was grateful to have her as a friend- even more so since this whole plan started. King Mogar was a good friend but pretty awful at pep talks. ‘You’re prime bait for stealing’, ‘who wouldn’t want a guy like you for their slave pite?’ were not encouraging words. Tuggey however made for great conversation. She told The Animal King tales of her youth, entertaining stories of Mogar’s embarrassing screwups- much to the other kings annoyance- and generally helped keep the dirty blonde haired king centered.

“So, Michael and I are doing a Versus Challenge and since I am the challenger I get to choose the way we do battle-”

Ryan listened to her tale with a lazy smile on his face, slowly sipping from his flagon of mead. He had heard this tale of defeat from Mogar himself but hearing it from victor always made for a more interesting narration. Plus Lindsey did voices which made everything funnier, her imitation of the king was so spot on and entertaining it cause him to cough up drink from his nose due to hard laughter.

“Lemme grab you a towel for that mess.” She stood, armor clinging as she searched the camp fire for something to help dry Ryan off.

“We cou-ould,” he coughed, trying to clear his lungs of alcohol, “have avoided this if you ga-ave me pause to drink.”

“And miss that spit take? Never.” She sent him a mocking grin that he waved off. Tuggey paused in search of towel, surprised to find none nearby the fire. “Hey, I am going to borrow some rags from the cooks, don’t spill anymore or else I’ll have to find you new clothes as well.”

Ryan stood and gave the lady knight a mocking bow. “I wouldn’t dream of it, my lady.”

She snorted and rolling her eyes, left to go find the king a towel. Or a scrap of cloth, The Animal King would have settled for anything at this point so long as his clothes didn’t stain with mead. He knew he was supposed to be playing the part of a common builder but the stink that drink left… Ryan had no desire to reek of booze for the remainder of his mission.He sent his drink down, no longer thirsty, and stared up at the night sky. It was so beautiful and peaceful that he could almost forget there were dead bodies being buried a few tents over Almost. The king sighed and tried to adjust himself into a more comfortable sitting position, logs, did not make for good seats and his ass and backside had been very sore for the past few days having nothing but grass and hard wood to rest upon. Grumbling, he stood, trying to crack his back. Barely a week out on the field and Ryan felt like an old man.

“Minecraft lord above, how does Mogar put up with it? I’m amazed he hasn’t ruined his spine with all this outdoor camp- HOLYSONOFBITCH!” Ryan yelped when something prodded him in the back, causing the tired and weary king to jump nearly three feet into the air. When he turned around to face his attacker he was startled to a cow staring blankly at him. “What the….. oh for the love of god you have got to be-”

“Ryan!?” Knight Tuggy had came charging back it seemed when his cry ran out, sword drawn in one hand, a towel in the other. “Whats going on I heard a scream and-” Lindsey caught sight of the cow. “And I came running all the way back… for a bull…. for fucks sake.”

She deflated, slumping over with a tired groan. Ryan chuckled and quickly apologized for scaring her before returning his attention back to the stray cow.

“I guess the little guy got out of his pen.” The king in disguise gave the beast a fond pat, scratching the bovain under the chin fondly. “Did someone escape his milking pen? Did he?”

“Ryan that’s a bull…. They don’t give milk.” The lady knights words fell on deaf ears as Ryan continued to coddle the escaped bull. While it did look a little like a female cow with its small horns what lay between its legs definitely made it a bull. A breeder at that too since certain parts were still there. Lindsey guessed it was either to be dinner or kept around to sire calves to kill and eat. Either way, a bull in its youthful prime shouldn’t be running about. “Ryan…. Stop treating the bull like a puppy and help me bring him back to his pen.”

“But Edger and I have bonded!”

Oh god above he had already named the damn thing. Lindsey tried to calm herself, tried to reminder herself that Ryan would be fine with a un-cut bull, that he was great with animals. But it was very hard to take the king seriously when he was treating a several ton beast like a kitten batting a ball of yarn.

“I’m glad to see you’re making friends but the bull-”

“Edger.”

“-Edger has to go home. If he stays out here in the open he might get hit by a stray arrow. We wouldn’t want that for… Edger now would we?”

Reluctantly Ryan agreed and with Knight Tuggey's help, escorted the bovian back to his home. Which turned out to be a very large hole in the ground with a ramp to take him in and out. The animal herders explain that ‘Edger’ didn’t get along with the other animals and was prone to attack them so they had to keep them out of his line of sight. The hole had been the only way to keep the damn thing from seeing the other animals and while a hassle to build paid off because he wasn’t stomping to death any chickens or kicking the horses or head butting the pigs. Lindsey was suddenly very grateful to have Ryan by her side, seemed ‘Edger’ had a bit of a temper when he wasn’t around the king. After a sorrowful parting between the two, again Ryan wouldn’t listen when Tuggey told him ‘Edger’ would still be there in the damn morning, the two returned their camp fire; only to find a chicken waiting for them besides the fire. The knight groaned as Ryan rushed off to capture his new friend. 

“This is going to become a habit isn’t it?...”


	4. In Which The Plan Works But Not As Planned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go according to plan but not in a way that was intended.

Two weeks passed before anything noteworthy happened. In that time Ryan had captured- more along the lines of stumbled across- an ocelot and sent it back to AchievementCity as a gift for Ray and named the chicken from his last encounter ‘Edger 2’; it was also at this point everyone learned The Animal King was awful at naming things and everyone was very grateful he hadn’t named the ocelot. Knight Tuggey bet her husband-to-be that he would have named it ‘Edger 3’. But as stated earlier nothing really happened for two weeks, it wasn’t until the marking of the second week that something began to happen. That something was a horde of creepers flooding soldiers sleeping quarters. A fourth of the warriors were lost before anyone knew what was going on, another fourth was lost trying fend them off. It is here where Ryans story takes an interesting turn.

 

The king in hiding was startled awake by screams echoing through the camp grounds, followed by a sound that made him tense and his heart freeze. The low hissing of a creeper. The sound they made just before exploding in your face and sending you into the afterlife. Ryan found himself shaking when multiple hisses rang through the air. How had this many creeper gotten past their defence line? Grabbing a dagger from underneath his pillow- a gift from Tuggey incase something bad were to happen to him- and slowly approached the opening flap of his tent. His roommate, a peasant builder whose name slipped his mind, had already fled or gone to help Ryan didn’t know which, all that he knew was that he was alone with screams and war cries ringing in his ears. Shaking, Ryan peeking through the opening tent flap, nearly screaming at what he saw. Two creepers were just outside his tent, wandering about in search of something to destroy. Covering his mouth, the king slowly and quietly as possible backed away from the tents entrance. If they found him hiding…. there was no room to run and avoid the explosion.

Ryan knelt by the back of the tent, hands shaking with terror as he did his best to pry the stakes from the ground. If he made an escape route before they found him hiding, maybe there was a chance of running and fleeing their blast radius. He shoved the gifted dagger between the stake and earth, silently as possible loosening the wooden beam from its hold of the ground. The king almost cried for joy when it came loose, allowing him to lift the back of the tent open and crawl out into the open. The scent of burning flesh and gunpowder hit him hard, making him wrinkle his nose with disgust. The campsite was a wreck. More than half the tents had been blown to kingdom come, soldiers were running around trying to help the wounded and destroy the creepers before they did more damage. King Mogar and Knight Tuggey were nowhere to be found. The hissing of the two creepers reminded Ryan why he had crawled out of his tent in the first pace and he quickly set to running in the opposite direction of their wheezing. He stopped only for a moment to catch his breath before sprinting off again, panic dictating his movements. The king didn’t stop until the smell of burning men and death was far behind him, only then did he collapsed into a tired mess, coughing and gasping for air. Through haggard breaths, Ryan forced himself to turn and look how far he had ran. The encampment was still visible but a long walk back, Ryan was shocked he had even ran that far.

    “S-some….. ki… king I am…” His words came out ragged and horse.

It hadn’t been the noble thing to do, turn tale like a coward. It wasn’t kingly. Mogar wouldn’t run, Mogar was probably back there helping his men and fending off creepers. But Ryan wasn’t Mogar. He wasn’t known for being a warrior and with no more than a dagger in hand his attacks wouldn’t have even scratched the creepers. More likely he would have just pissed them off and made them explode in his face. But then again, this shouldn’t have happened. The campsite was well lit to keep monsters from spawning, the soldiers had killed any monsters on the way to Ville, guards had been posted to keep the encampment safe and beyond them was scouts to warn if any were coming their way. Michael had prepared for everything and Lindsey and double checked his preparations, so how had the creepers gotten in? Righting himself into sitting position, Ryan tried to think this over. Any information he could come up with would be helpful in keeping this from happening once more. Perhaps they had come from underneath? He quickly dismissed that idea. Creepers didn’t dig upwards, they stumbled upwards and since Michael had made camp nowhere near any caves that idea was quickly crushed. Maybe the nightwatch had fallen asleep on the job? Again, Ryan tossed that one into his mental trashbin. It wasn’t very likely every single one of them fell asleep at the same time and even if they had the scouts would have woken them up. The couldn’t spawn with how much torchlight had been set up. Every in of the encampment had been bathed in light so no monster would appear in the middle of the night.

    “This…. doesn’t m-make sense….” His voice was still recovering. “T-they shouldn’t hav… have appeared at a-all….”

Ryan was so lost in his thoughts he didn’t hear the sound of footsteps until something cold was pressed up against his neck, the low hissing of a human voice whispering in his ear.

    “ _Scream and I cut your throat…_ ” The voice was raspy, like nails on the chalkboard. Each word made Ryan want to cover his ears to block out the pain of having to listen. But he listened to the attacker, staying still and silent. The cold blade against his neck tilted upward, indicating his captor wanted him to stand.

Slowly, Ryan got to his feet, trying his best to look from the corners of eyes to see who was doing this to him. Obviously it was an abductor from AchievementVille but still Ryan wanted a face to the awful voice. But the man was hooded and the dark knight did his eyes no favors. Once fully righted the man rasped for Ryan to put his arms behind his back. Again, he did as told. This was all part of the plan… granted he was farther away from camp than originally intended but still it was all going well. His arms were bound behind his back with metal cuff, put on far too tight. Ryan tried to test his bonds only to find that he couldn’t move his hands at all without the cool metal biting at his skin.

    “ _Move…_ ” The knife pressed hard against his throat, the sharp edge cutting into his pale skin and drawing blood. Ryan slowly began to walk. It was a slow pace. Between the knife at his throat and the speed of his captor, the journey to his prison was a slow one. The moon had almost sunk into the ground by the time they reached where the other prisoners of tonights raid were being held. Twenty others had been taken it seemed. Some had been injured in the creeper attack and were bleeding badly. Ryan felt his heart leap into his throat when the voice of his captor rasp to the other hooded figures, “Kill the wounded. Our leader has no use for those who can’t work.”

The hooded man obeyed before Ryan could even open his mouth in protest. Any men who had shown the smallest amount of being injured was killed in an instant, neck slit in one fast blur. Now only nine plus the king remained. Ryan felt his stomach turn and found himself emptying it onto the bloodied ground, coughing and hacking on the bile that stuck to his throat. His captor, the only one who had spoke so far, paused to look down at him, judging whether or not he was ill or just sick from the sight. Ill meant death. After a few more coughs the hooded rasper decided that Ryan was simply upset from the murder and roughly hauled him to his feet.

    “ _Walk_.”

Forcefully, Ryan was shoved into line with the rest of the captured, herded towards AchievementVille. He looked back once more at the bodies that were left behind, swearing vengeance for them. He would make this right, if it was the last thing he did, Ryan swore he would make their murderers pay.

The large walls of Ville loomed above, morning was almost upon them and Ryan saw no way of entering the city. There were no gates before them, just tall impervious walls. The leader, the kings captor, stopped before wall, feeling the stone with leather covered hand. The figures fingers found what they were searching for. With a soft hiss a small patch of the wall caved inwards, revealing to the captured group a secret passage.

    “So that is h-how they snuck them in…” Ryan barely had time to comprehend this new information before he and the others were shoved into the dark passage. When everyone was inside, the leader closed the door behind them and took charge in leading them through the pitch blackness. They walked for what felt like an eternity, stumbling blindly about in the darkness before light graced them once again. It was a bit of a shock, all that darkness followed up by a sudden bright light. Ryan was forced to shut his eyes before opening them slowly.

    AchievementVille was not what he expected. The Animal King had expected a city, a kingdom, something resembling the other nations Mogar talked about conquering. Ville was nothing like a kingdom. The streets had been torn up, the houses reduced to rubble and replaced with factories. Mud caked the people he saw as they were lead through the ‘kingdom’, their hollow eyes staring straight into Ryans soul. They looked tired. Dead but alive, if there was such a thing. Ryan saw no farms or stores, just store houses for weapons and training areas for the soldiers. The warriors of Ville looked no better than their commoners, their eyes glazed over, movement sluggish and heavy. Ryan thought them possessed. None of them talked, no one talked it seemed. Aside from tired grunts and the sound of metal working, no noise echoed the in the city. What had the ruler of this land done to his people?

The newly caught meat was lead to the castle, which was in as much disarray as the rest of Ville. Thorns and vines grew over the stone, anything that wasn’t needed to keep it standing had been torn down. No flags, no statues, no art, flowers, anything that could have made this building once look beautiful had been stripped and torn away.

Ryan was shoved to the ground upon entering the throne room, the rest of the prisoners forced to follow him to the ground. Unwillingly, each man was forced into kneeling position, a knife at each of their throats to enforce good behavior. The king in disguise’s abductor moved in front them, clearing his throat with a hoarse cough.

    “ _Presenting his lordship… Prince Caleb Denecour. True lord of AchievementCity and your rightful king._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh.... I was only supposed to update once a week but I am inspired. More soon.


	5. The Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn about Caleb the traitor and Ryan is not as hidden as he would like to be.

          Prince Caleb Denecour, there was an interesting tale. The Denecour family was one of the oldest in AchivementCity, well known for being a ‘jack-of-all-trades’ household. They were not renowned for one overall achievement but instead flourish in many different areas. Some of the family members were skilled builders, painters, archivers, storytellers, merchants, anything you could think of there was a chance someone in their family did it. Caleb had been very popular, many of the people in the kingdom assumed he would have been chosen as a one of the new kings; after all, he did come from a very fine line. Of course as history shows us, that is not what was happened. The prince was passed over and at the time he had taken it with a smile and good attitude. There had been no instant changes in the man, nothing outwardly evil or threatening that would end the man where he was now. After the queens decisions, the prince had fallen into the shadows, most assumed him to be sulking. There had been rumors of course, something about the hijacking of the fish trade and eavesdropping on things he should not have- but those were merely rumors. The kings had found no evidence of such action… but looking back, Ryan noted, Caleb had not been heard about in some time. His house had sent men of course to fight in the war against AchievementVille but the prince himself had never shone his face over the past five years. People said they saw him of course, his personal servants giving reasons for his absence but now it was clear they were just covering for the traitor. Ryan could only assume the Denecour family either knew about their son’s actions or were just trying to save face and had no idea where he was or what he was doing. Neither were particularly uplifting thoughts. Either they had traitors close to home or a huge liability if Caleb ever got in contact with any of his family.

None of this new information helped the hiding king however as he still prisoner, in the dark as to why Caleb was doing this, how he was doing this, or how to save his own skin- if the former AchivementCity prince saw his face Ryan was as good as dead. The prince would know his face, they had been in court together many times. The Animal king had even given him a new pet bird when the prince’s old one passed. An awkward mixture of fear and rage boiled inside of him, caught between wanting to scream at the man who was once a loyal man and not wanting to blow his cover. Ryan ducked his head low, hoping that his peasant disguise would keep him from being noticed. It had been five years after all, perhaps Caleb had forgotten what The Animal King looked like.

 

The former prince strutted into the room, guards flanking his sides with thick long swords in their hands. They were bigger than any common man should be able to lift with one hand but somehow these men carried them with ease, as if they weighed no more than a feather. Caleb was dressed in royal garb, standing out amongst the dreary castle setting. His shirt was of a fine dyed purple, pants black as the cape he wore on his back. Underneath the shirt was chainmail, just barely poking out and shining in the light of the torches. Upon his brow rested a beautiful crown, pure gold  with bright red gems set all around it. In the front it pointed up like an arrow, causing light to flicker and halo around it. The prince did look older however, the war doing him no favors either. The sides of his hair were faded grey and his eyes sported dark circles under them. 

He stopped before the new prisoners, looking them over with a cold appraising stare, like a butcher trying to judge which cow was the finest to slaughter. He turned his attention to Ryans captor, giving him a displeased frown.

 

“Why are there so few? Surely this not all you could grab, my distraction gave you plenty of time to get in and out with more than a mere handful of workers.” Ryan never remembered Calebs voice sounding pretentious or cruel. The captor stepped forward and bowed low. Ryan risked taking a peek at the man now that they were in better light. He wore light armor of leather, dyed black to hide him amongst the shadows. A brown hood was pulled low over his head, obscuring the king from seeing what they actually looked like.

 

“ Apologises my king ,” he rasped “ We had more captured but they were injured… the weak were disposed of per your orders, sir. ”

 

Caleb cursed softly at this and turned his attention back towards the prisoners. The speaking hooded man did not move and stayed in his bowed position. Slowly, the traitor made his way down the line, looking over his prizes with an annoyed scowl across his face. 

 

“These will have to do for now, we can’t risk any more open attacks for awhile least those morons catch on.” He sniggered at that, amused by his own insult to the current and real kings of AchivementCity. “Not like they could catch a common cold if it walked right past them but I do not want to risk it. Underestimating their power is why AchivementLandia fell.”

 

Ryan ignored the insults, forcing himself to remain calm and hidden. They might not be perfect kings (Gavin far from perfect) but they were good kings. Fair. Kind. They weren’t what Caleb had become- forcing these people to suffer for his own gain. The former AchievementCity prince grabbed one of the builders by the chin, looking him over before letting him go.

 

“Send that one to work on repairs.” One of the other hooded men nodded and grabbed the poor man, dragging him away from the throne room. Caleb continued this inspection, going down the line of captured men, inspecting them for a moment before giving orders on where to put them. 

It was at this Ryan began to panic. He was second to last in line and was guaranteed to be found out soon. His escape plan was worthless now, the Ender Pearl was always on him but with his hands chained so tightly he could not reach it. Even if he could throwing it in this room would do him no good. He would teleport to the end of the throne room at best, be forced to run and ultimately caught.  No matter what angle the king looked at it from he was screwed, Caleb was going to find out who he was. Ryan figured he might as well try to run for it, who knew, maybe he would get lucky and escape outside the palace- find some place to hide amongst the ruins of the city. His guard wasn’t on him anymore, still in that bowed position so now was the only shot he would get. It was a dumb plan but since he was boned either way, it was better than just sitting there waiting to be discovered. Caleb was only two builders away when The Animal King turned on his heels and fled. He made it to the end of the throne room before something heavy tackled him to the ground. He fought back as much as his binding would let him but all that did was make him flail about like a fish. His attacker easily hauled him back up to his feet and as punishment for trying to flee, punched Ryan hard in the face. He fell back down and received a kick to his stomach, forcing the blonde to curl up on himself.

 

“Oh son o-of a bitch that hurst…” He grit his teeth, glaring up at his attacker. Ryan felt his pain melt away instantly, shocked by what- no who- he saw in front of him. “Kerry?”

 

The man standing above him was indeed Kerry Shawcross, King Michals former squire. Only Ryan knew that wasn’t possible. Kerry had died in the last siege of AchievementVille, shot through the eye and neck by enemy arrows. Michal had seen it all, even buried the body himself. But the man before him looked just like the squire, round face, brown hair- though his right eye now sported a large eye patch. His skin was paler too, almost a sickly grey-green shade. If this man was indeed Kerry, which Ryan still found impossible to believe, he did not act at all like the man he once knew. But the king could not deny his eyes for around the man’s neck was a large round scar, that which only could have been made by an arrow. If that new eye patch was covering what he thought it was, then this man did not only look like Kerry but bore his marks of death. 

Ryan was jarred from his thoughts by an amused chuckle and he turned to see where it had come from. Caleb was approaching them, guards following behind like loyal dogs.

 

“You know my pet do you? Kerry do you know this man, come now, don’t leave anything out I want to know all about your former friend.” Ryan didn’t think it possible to hate Caleb more so than he already did but every word out of the traitors mouth just made the king more and more furious. 

 

“ He is The Animal King, Sir. Ryan Haywood of AchivementCity. ” Kerry stared down at Ryan, the expression and tone of his voice never changing from a dull scratching pace.

 

“What!?”

 

Suddenly interested by this news, the traitor turned his full attention on Ryan. Caleb approached the two men, grabbing the king in hiding by his hair and yanking his head up. Their eyes meet, Ryans full of anger and Calebs filled with shock. 

 

“By the Mindcraft god above… It is him.” The former AchievementCity prince let go of the dirty blonde locks, taking a step back. Ryan spat at Denecour’s foot, earning himself a swift kick to the face by the former squire. There was a loud crunch and the Animal King screamed in pain, blood spilling down his face from his now broken nose. Caleb took a step back, not wanting any of the blood to stain his clothing. “A little far from home, aren’t we /king/? Followed a chicken all the way to my doorstep did you?”

 

Ryan tried to sneer at the others comment but found it too painful an expression to make in his current statues. He settled on flipping him off. 

 

“Fuc-ck you.” Kerry kicked him again for the back talk.

 

“ You will not speak to your King so rudely .” 

 

“T-that traitor isn’t my-” Another kick. Ryan decided to shut his mouth, he couldn’t take much more of this. How ever angry he was at Caleb, for turning on them, killing their friend and then…. turning him into this monster- being a smartass wouldn’t help him fix all that. It would just make his situation worse. “W-what did…. did you do to h-him?”

 

“Him?” Caleb gave a the other a confused look before understanding the question. “Oh, Kerry you mean? Well, when I heard that one of my men had killed him I just thought ‘what a terrible waste, the boy always had such potential’ so… I fixed him. Made some slight improvements.”

He tutted softly as he walked over to the former squire, petting his head like one would a loyal dog. Kerry did not respond to the action, staring impassively down at The Animal King. Caleb chuckled and moved away, signaling for Kerry to pick their prisoner up.

“Of course, I couldn’t repair him entirely as you can see. Voice was, pardon my saying, shot to The Nether- no hope of making him sound like he used to but then again I don’t need him for his voice. The eye was another lose but honestly, who needs two. He does fine with one.”

 

Forced to his feet, Ryan sagged against Kerry hold, light headed from all the kicks and pain raging in his skull. 

 

“H-he was dead though…. Michael saw… saw him s-shot dead.”

 

“As I said,” Denecour smirked, turning his back on the two men. “I fixed it. Throw our ‘guest’ in The Hole, I will deal with him later.”

 

Ryan could not even struggle against the puppets hold, dragged away from the throne room with ease. He tried to memorize the layout of the castle, taking this chance to look at his surroundings properly but his vision was swimming. The pain from his broken nose was interfering, Ryan could not focus long enough at one  thing to get a general idea of what or where he was. But he could tell that he was going down. Very far down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I am so sorry this took.... longer then it should have.... But I am writing again now. Sort of. Hopefully I will get a chapter a month, maybe more if I am inspired.  
> Long story short, this fic is not dead and I am still writing.


End file.
